“Thanks to my OUTAthlete Scholarship, I have the strength to say I’m here and I matter – I have an identity and a voice.

I am an ex-college rugby athlete who was in desperate need of motivation. All throughout high school and college I was involved in sports – soccer, tennis, golf, rugby – and always had built in exercise or an activity that got me moving and helped me de-stress at the same time. As a bonus, sports also offered me a safe space to be an out lesbian with my peers.

Recently, I had been a member of a local gym chain; however, I was lacking the community and friendly competitive environment. Two close friends/co-workers of mine are members of a local CrossFit, CrossFit Rise in Schaumburg, Illinois, and they invited me to try a few of their beginner classes. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t immediately love the workouts and people there! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to join due to a membership there being much pricier than my local membership.

That’s when I learned about the OUTAthlete Scholarship from The OUT Foundation. With the encouragement of my friends, I applied and was chosen as a recipient this year! This scholarship has provided me a year-long membership at CrossFit Rise as well as weekly goal coaching, nutrition counseling, 3 months of healthy meals from Kettlebell Kitchen, apparel from RYU and BeastWorx, and footwear from NoBull.

Growing up, I fought who I was for a long time because I was scared for people to know my “secret” of being a lesbian. While I am still on my coming out journey, I am most proud that I have found a way to be happy with who I am despite my internal anxiety of being judged by my family.

I have an unbelievable chosen family and support system who constantly push me to be the best I can be, and with the support of The OUT Foundation, the best I can be is only going to get better.” – Chloé Ramjohn, OUTAthlete Class of 2019